Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Bob Casey, a so-called “moderate” in the U.S. Senate, has voted with the President Obama over 90 percent of the time, but he regularly goes out of his way to pretend he doesn’t. He’s sort of like Joe Lieberman or Ben Nelson, except without the whole “Holding votes hostage” thing and with a penchant for trying to outlaw Robotripping. Still, it was a bit shocking when I read this at PA Independent: While addressing the Pennsylvania Press Club’s monthly luncheon here, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey generally steered clear of directly involving himself in the ongoing presidential campaign, except when asked about his view on what it takes to build a successful business in the private sector. “Everyone knows that when someone builds a business, and it is successful, it is successful for a variety of reasons,” he said. “One of the reasons they are successful is that they work hard.” The statement is a direct rebuke to a statement Republicans (and Bob Casey, apparently) are pretending President Obama made last week when talking about U.S. education and infrastructure. Republicans have edited those words to make it seem like the president was insulting business owners. Oddly, everyone knew that version of the story was a farce and a smear but Republicans kept pushing it until people had to talk about it. And now we are. In the latest chapter of this Fake Outrage That Wouldn’t Die, Bob Casey has joined in, perhaps afraid of having to defend himself against anything or taking a real stand. Although a pretty standard Casey move, it’s disappointing every time.

Mac’s Tavern in Old City has been posting pictures on Facebook of its patrons stealing (walking out on bar tabs) for a while now. Here’s a story about the manager’s philosophy about why this is OK to do.

Two men attempted to rob a home in Andorra this morning. The home was actually inhabited by an off-duty police officer, who killed one of the men. The other got away and was arrested later in Springfield, Montgomery County. No one inside the home was hurt, except the one burgler who died.

Yesterday, Philadelphia prosecutors announced they’ll be retrying Rev. James Brennan, whom a jury was deadlocked in the landmark trial against him and Monsignor William Lynn earlier this year. Brennan admitted during the trial that he watched porn with a boy, wrestled with him and slept in the same bed with him—but says no actual molestation went on.

Here are the sanctions against Penn State: 1) $60 million to child abuse victims; 2) A four-year postseason ban; 3) A four-year scholarship reduction; 4) Any player at Penn State will be allowed to wave transfer rules and go to another Division I school, immediately; 5) All wins between 1998 and 2011 will be vacated, meaning Joe Paterno is no longer the winningest coach in NCAA history.

Remember Bob Casey? From earlier in this blog? He also said he would possibly run for governor of Pennsylvania, if asked.

A couple coal companies in Pennsylvania are laying people off, and they’re blaming President Obama for it—because coal is being “overregulated” by the Environmental Protection Agency. Oddly, one of the companies laying off workers also “cited weaker-than-normal demand for coal” — and no one seemed to blame, say, fracking for natural gas or Gov. Corbett’s insatiable appetite for natural gas.

Mayor Nutter used this weekend’s water main eruption in the Graduate Hospital area as proof that the city needs more infrastructure money. “This is a little bit of a larger story. When we talk about infrastructure … it’s all the stuff you don’t see,” he said at 21st and Bainbridge “Having additional financial support, whether that’s from grants or at times, unfortunately, from rate hikes, we are constantly trying to upgrade and update our system.”

There is a rally to raise the minimum wage today at Independence Mall.